Matala fire, 5 August 2018 Matala
The fire started on 5 August 2018 in Matala, Angola, and satellites saw it burning for 4 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 9,025 hectares from heat detections, spread across a single municipality.
It is the 22th largest in Huíla since 2016 (of 70 with a page). Number 19 in Angola in 2018, of 100.
- Burnt area
- 9,025ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 4days
- 5 Aug 2018 – 8 Aug 2018
- Municipalities hit
- 1
- municipalities
- Started on
- 5 Aug
- 2018
- Heat detections
- 292
- in a single hotspot: 208 MW
- Danger at start
- 43
- Very high · FWI index
- Energy released
- 7.4GW
- sum of detected power
Where it burned
How it evolved, day by day
Fire radiative power detected each day, in megawatts, and number of hotspots. The magenta bar marks the peak day.
The weather it burned in
It had gone more than two months without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.
This area had burned before
82% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 7,183 ha in 2016, 1,929 ha in 2017. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 7,407 ha that had burned before.
- 1,456 ha Matala fire, August 2016 6,008 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 965 ha Matala fire, August 2016 12,297 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 65 ha Matala fire, August 2017 12,933 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
What happened to each town
-
Matala where it started9,080 ha reached on 5 Aug1.0 %
Burnt area inside each municipality, from crossing the GWIS perimeter with administrative boundaries. The distance is from the town centre to the nearest fire: staying a kilometre away does not mean it reached the houses.
The weather day by day
ECMWF ERA5 reanalysis at the fire location, the standard reference for past weather, and the Canadian Fire Weather Index (the same system Copernicus uses), computed by WorldFires from that data. Days after the fire run until the first rain.
Open-Meteo.com (CC BY 4.0) · Copernicus Climate Change Service (ERA5)
| Day | High | Min. humidity | Peak gust | Rain | Danger (FWI) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5 Aug | 30.4 °C | 17 % | 31 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 43 |
| 6 Aug | 32.3 °C | 17 % | 30 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 41 |
| 7 Aug | 33.6 °C | 11 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 50 |
| 8 Aug | 33.9 °C | 5 % | 30 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 58 |
| 9 Aug after | 32.8 °C | 12 % | 23 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 52 |
| 10 Aug after | 31.4 °C | 11 % | 28 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 51 |
| 11 Aug after | 33.0 °C | 16 % | 31 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 52 |
| 12 Aug after | 33.6 °C | 13 % | 40 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 55 |
| 13 Aug after | 32.9 °C | 10 % | 43 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 60 |
| 14 Aug after | 32.8 °C | 11 % | 31 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 52 |
| 15 Aug after | 32.6 °C | 11 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 53 |
| 16 Aug after | 32.7 °C | 14 % | 37 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 54 |
| 17 Aug after | 33.6 °C | 13 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 52 |
| 18 Aug after | 33.8 °C | 6 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 56 |
Before and after, from space
Drag the line to compare the same ground before the fire and after it.
If the day is cloudy, change the date: each satellite passes once a day. In false colour the burnt ground looks brown or red.
Detections table · 292Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
| Date and time | Satellite | FRP (MW) | Lat | Lon |
|---|
Other fires nearby
- 23,106 haMatala23 September 2026 · 15 days · 15 km away
- 12,933 haMatalaAugust 2017 · 4 days · 16 km away
- 32,963 haMatala13 August 2024 · 11 days · 17 km away
- 12,297 haMatala5 August 2016 · 11 days · 17 km away
- 18,311 haQuipungo23 August 2017 · 11 days · 30 km away
- 14,043 haQuipungo20 August 2024 · 17 days · 38 km away
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Matala fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 5 August 2018 and 8 August 2018: 4 days between the first and last heat detection of the perimeter.
- How much area did it burn?
- The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 9,025 hectares (90.2 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire only entered Matala (9,080 ha, 1.0 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 33.9 °C, humidity dropped to 5 % and gusts hit 34 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 58, class Extreme.
- Where does this data come from?
- From the GWIS (Copernicus) burnt perimeter, NASA FIRMS VIIRS hotspots and the administrative boundaries of Angola (geoBoundaries). It is not an official report.
Where to verify it
A satellite detection is not an official report. Final figures and the fire’s status are published by each country’s emergency service.
Satellite cross-check
Does something look wrong on this page?
This page is built from satellite data and official records, and it sometimes gets things wrong: the wrong dates, the wrong town, two fires merged into one, or something that was not a wildfire at all. If you know this fire first-hand (you live nearby, saw it, fought it or reported on it), tell us what really happened and we will check it.
Report an error
Where this data comes from
The perimeter comes from the Copernicus Global Wildfire Information System (GWIS), which rebuilds it from MODIS and VIIRS heat detections and publishes it under CC BY 4.0. It is not measured on imagery as in Europe, so it is an estimate. Heat detections come from the VIIRS sensors aboard Suomi-NPP and NOAA-20, distributed by NASA FIRMS at 375 m resolution. Municipal boundaries come from geoBoundaries ADM2 (Public Domain). The area per municipality is computed by WorldFires by crossing the perimeter with those boundaries, so it may differ from each country’s official figure.